BMAD-METHOD/docs/explanation
Brian b63086f22e
feat(core-skills): add bmad-customize — guided authoring for _bmad/custom overrides (#2289)
* feat(core-skills): add bmad-customize for authoring _bmad/custom overrides

A conversational guide skill that helps users author or update TOML overrides
in _bmad/custom/ for customizable BMad agents and workflows. Covers per-skill
agent and workflow surfaces; central config is out of scope for v1.

- SKILL.md: six-step flow (intent, discover, route, compose, team-vs-user,
  show-confirm-write-verify) with baked-in agent-vs-workflow routing heuristic
  and a template-swap subroutine
- scripts/list_customizable_skills.py: stdlib-only scanner that enumerates
  customizable skills across standard IDE install paths, reports surface type
  and override status, PEP 723, 10 unit tests
- Reuses _bmad/scripts/resolve_customization.py for post-write verification
- Registered in core-skills/module-help.csv with menu code BC

* refactor(bmad-customize): apply QA pass (top 3 recommendations)

Applies the three highest-payoff themes from the quality analysis:

- Labeling + completion contracts: rename ## Purpose to ## Overview,
  add domain framing (what customization means in BMad, typical user
  arrival shapes), add an explicit Completion block with testable
  conditions for "skill run is done"
- Hostile-environment robustness: add On-Activation preflight that
  classifies no-BMad / BMad-without-resolver / full-install states,
  instruct Step 2 to surface scanner errors[] and scanned_roots on
  empty results, add resolver-missing fallback to Step 6.4, add a
  re-enter-Step-4 recovery loop when verify shows the override didn't
  take effect
- Returning-user and iteration experience: add "Audit / iterate"
  intent class in Step 1, lead discovery with already-overridden
  skills for that intent, read existing overrides in Step 3 before
  composing, frame Step 4 as additive-on-top rather than fresh
  authoring, give Cross-cutting intent an explicit Step 3 branch
  that walks agent-vs-workflow with the user

Resolves 12 of 18 observations from the quality report. Lint clean
(scan-path-standards and scan-scripts both 0 findings). Unit tests
still 10/10.

* refactor(bmad-customize): derive skills root from install location

Previously the scanner hardcoded a list of IDE skill directories
(.claude/skills, .cursor/skills, .cline/skills, .continue/skills) and
scanned them relative to the project root. That was wrong: skills can
be installed either project-local or user-global, the IDE determines
the convention, and the set of valid locations is open-ended.

The scanner now derives its primary skills root from __file__ — the
running skill's own install directory is the authoritative location
for finding siblings. --skills-root overrides the default; --extra-root
(repeatable) adds additional locations for the rare mixed-install case.

Changes:
- list_customizable_skills.py: remove SKILL_ROOTS constant, add
  default_skills_root() derived from __file__, rename scan_project
  to scan_skills(skills_roots, project_root), add --skills-root and
  --extra-root flags, de-dupe skills when the same name appears in
  multiple roots (first wins)
- SKILL.md: update Step 2 to describe the scanner's derive-from-install
  behavior and when to use --extra-root; drop the hardcoded IDE path
  list from Notes
- tests: refactor setUp to place skills under a generic skills root
  (not .claude/skills), add 3 new tests for multiple-roots merge,
  duplicate-name precedence, and missing-root error reporting

* docs(customization): point users at bmad-customize as the guided path

Surface the new bmad-customize skill across the three customization
docs so users know they don't need to hand-author TOML to benefit
from the surface:

- customize-bmad.md: prominent tip at the top introducing the skill
  as the guided authoring helper; updated the "Need to see what's
  customizable?" troubleshooting tip to recommend the skill first
- expand-bmad-for-your-org.md: tip under prereqs noting every recipe
  can be applied via the skill, with the recipes remaining the
  reference for what to override
- named-agents.md: short paragraph in the customization section and a
  link entry under the references list

Hand-authoring still works the same way; the skill is additive.
Central-config overrides are flagged as the current exception.

* docs(bmad-customize): steer users at bmad-builder instead of 'forking'

* fix(bmad-customize): reword description to pass file-ref validator

* refactor(bmad-customize): tighten description and expand module-help entry

- SKILL.md description: drop the catch-all 'or asks how to change the
  behavior of a specific BMad skill' trigger clause that would fire in
  casual discussion; keep the four explicit phrase triggers.
- module-help.csv: rewrite the description so bmad-help has real
  routing material — names the concrete capabilities (persistent
  facts, template swaps, activation hooks, menus), the scope routing,
  and the value prop (no TOML hand-authoring). Matches the 'Use
  when...' pattern other Core entries use.

* fix(module-help): quote bmad-customize description field that contains commas

* fix(bmad-customize): address PR #2289 review findings

- SKILL.md preflight: load root config from _bmad/config.toml and
  config.user.toml (not .yaml) — the installer emits TOML; the YAML
  references would have made the skill silently miss real user config
- SKILL.md resolver fallback (Step 6.4): read all three merge layers
  when present (base / team / user) and describe the merge in
  base → team → user order; the prior wording could describe the wrong
  effective merge when the user wrote .user.toml on top of an existing
  team .toml
- SKILL.md: replace bare 'docs/how-to/customize-bmad.md' references
  (3 locations) with the public docs URL so users installing the skill
  aren't pointed at a path they don't have locally
- list_customizable_skills.py: catch UnicodeDecodeError in
  read_frontmatter_description so a non-UTF-8 SKILL.md can't abort
  the whole scan
- list_customizable_skills.py: clarify exit-code contract in the
  module docstring — errors[] is non-fatal by design, exit 2 is
  reserved for invocation errors
- customize-bmad.md: tighten the tip to scope bmad-customize to the
  per-skill surface; central-config is out of scope v1
- expand-bmad-for-your-org.md: same scoping — Recipes 1-4 can be
  applied by the skill; Recipe 5 (central config) stays hand-authored

* fix(bmad-customize): markdownlint MD034 and validate-file-refs

- Wrap the three docs.bmad-method.org references as
  [text](url) markdown links instead of bare URLs (MD034)
- Drop the {project-root}/ prefix on line 41's config.toml
  references. validate-file-refs strips the template prefix and
  tries to resolve 'config.toml' as 'src/config.toml'; sibling
  skills (party-mode, retrospective, advanced-elicitation) all
  reference '_bmad/config.toml' bare and pass CI — match that
  pattern. The '(root level under {project-root}, installer-owned)'
  parenthetical preserves the disambiguation.

* refactor(bmad-customize): cut token-wasting prose from SKILL.md

Down from 175 lines to 110. Removed:
- 'What customization means in BMad' architecture backgrounder — the
  LLM reads the live customize.toml in Step 3; doesn't need the lore
- 'Desired Outcomes' section — retrospective narration of what the
  6 steps already instruct
- 'Role' section — fluff; the flow itself defines the role
- 'Notes' section — sparse-override rule already in Step 4, IDE-path
  note is commentary, docs link duplicates the out-of-scope section
- 'The scanner derives its skills directory from...' and 'returns JSON
  with...' — commentary the LLM doesn't need; it runs the script and
  sees the output
- 'that file IS the schema' and similar editorial asides throughout
- Explanatory clauses like 'silently drifts on every release' and
  'trust the user's domain knowledge'

Kept everything that's load-bearing: preflight conditionals, intent
classification, routing heuristic, merge semantics, template-swap
subroutine, team-vs-user defaults, verify fallback and recovery loop,
completion conditions, out-of-scope list.
2026-04-20 22:14:54 -05:00
..
advanced-elicitation.md fix(docs): comprehensive documentation site review fixes (#1578) 2026-02-08 11:58:22 -06:00
adversarial-review.md fix(docs): comprehensive documentation site review fixes (#1578) 2026-02-08 11:58:22 -06:00
analysis-phase.md feat: add bmad-prfaq skill as alternative analysis path (#2157) 2026-03-28 17:16:41 -05:00
brainstorming.md docs: update terminology from commands to skills across all documentation (#1850) 2026-03-07 16:14:25 -07:00
checkpoint-preview.md docs(checkpoint): add explainer page and workflow diagram (#2183) 2026-04-01 22:20:48 -06:00
established-projects-faq.md refactor(quick-dev): rename tech-spec prefix to spec (#2109) 2026-03-23 00:09:05 -06:00
named-agents.md feat(core-skills): add bmad-customize — guided authoring for _bmad/custom overrides (#2289) 2026-04-20 22:14:54 -05:00
party-mode.md docs: update terminology from commands to skills across all documentation (#1850) 2026-03-07 16:14:25 -07:00
preventing-agent-conflicts.md docs: update terminology from commands to skills across all documentation (#1850) 2026-03-07 16:14:25 -07:00
project-context.md refactor(quick-dev): rename tech-spec prefix to spec (#2109) 2026-03-23 00:09:05 -06:00
quick-dev.md docs: fix stale Quick Flow reference in quick-dev explainer opening 2026-03-19 00:07:17 -06:00
why-solutioning-matters.md fix(docs): comprehensive documentation site review fixes (#1578) 2026-02-08 11:58:22 -06:00